Ama Niang

Category: Update

  • Positionality Now

    In my previous positionality statement I wrote ‘As someone who has always been interested in finding ways to address elitism, exclusion and xenophobia/racism in their work, I plan to apply this to my work this year as well. I am very interested in expanding my knowledge when it comes to exhibition design, as this is a career path I am considering choosing. I like that exhibition design allows you to work with artists and uplift their voices and art. I have done projects before about uplifting the voices of under-represented and overlooked groups in the art space and would like to continue to do so. For me, it is very important to bring awareness to the ways in which systems of oppression affect minorities, and the art world is a great example of that.’ .

    Is anything different now?

    In short no, I still have the same values and priorities. I would even say my values are stronger now.

    I plan to continue making work that aims to address the oppression of minorities, and looking to preserve the history and importance of the land any of my projects will sit in. In terms of interior design/ architecture, I want anything I design to be considerate of its location and the people it impacts.

  • Exhibition Summary/Catch Up

    Exhibition Information Flyers

    It was my job to make the flyers explaining the exhibition, which was quick to do since already had our design language confirmed and I had already written up the exhibition statement.

    Schools Reaching Out

    We gave the library workshop flyer and they passed them out to schools, we got some interest from that but not enough. Since my colleague was in charge of workshop reach out she emailed and visited the schools, this ended up getting us more workshops.

    Monday Set Up

    We set up the exhibition on Monday, we had got everything missing printed and headed to the library. We agreed on the layout before hand so we just got to installing. Once it was up we didn’t like one section so we switched some things up and landed on the final layout. It went very smoothly.

    Tuesday Private View

    We had our private view last Tuesday, I was really nervous before because I had never hosted a private view let alone been to one. It turned out super well, people were looking at the pieces, amazing feedback. I am super happy with how it turned out.

    Friday Two Workshops

    We had our first two workshops Friday, they turned out great. Lots of amazing work from the children and it was nice to see their responses to the work in the exhibition.

    Overall Experience

    I have really enjoyed curating an exhibition, the workshops were also very fun. It was interesting to do something different and I had never thought that this was something I would be doing this year. It was also informative and helped me learn about curating and what that process is like.

  • Abandoned Blog, Busy Ama

    Judging poetry category

    I was given the 11-14 poetry to shortlist for the judges. It was a fun and a good experience to see how the behind the scenes judging process works. There was so much amazing work that made it extremely difficult to pick 50 to move forward.

    Judging day (in person)

    After the internal shortlisting the judges saw the work and gave them rankings, this converted into points to fairly count all the judges rankings. We had an in person judging day to make the choices that were tied, as a final round to cement the placements. It was interesting to see the decisions that took place and how judges fought for the pieces they really liked.

    Month of the military child entries

    With the International competition over and the start of April, I was in charge of the entries for the Month of the Military Child. This competition is less popular than the international competition and is only open to entries from Britain, so the entries weren’t overwhelming.

    I have now finished the entries and the competition is currently being judged.

    Working on SIP

    I have also been working on my SIP at the same time, more about that in the SIP section.

    Winners socials and MP letters

    For the international competition I have been working on making the social media posts to announce and introduce the winners who want to be featured on the Instagram and Facebook.

    Also getting the letters to MP’s for UK winners ready, that way they can get a congratulatory letter from their MP and maybe a certificate ceremony.

    More grants

    I have also been working on finding and applying to more grants for the charity.

  • Easter Break Update

    I finished all my work on the competition entries now and I got to do the shortlisting for a category. Exited to see what work I’ll have to do when we go back.

    There were a some differences during the group short listing for art, but it all worked itself out in the end.

    During the break I am going to be working on my report and 2nd SIP.

  • Competition Closing

    NSI is considering a new logo so we’ve been thinking about what that could look like. The idea has changed multiple times but here are some sketches of ideas we had considered.

    One of my colleagues had an event with Canterbury Christ Church University in Kent. It was a day of workshops were the year 7s were asked to take what they heard from the key note speaker and reflect on putting themselves in her shoes. The day started with us setting everything up and then the schools arrives. The keynote speaker was telling us about her experience living in Afghanistan and the how with the Taliban taking over she could no longer go to school. Explaining about secret schools and her journey as a refugee in the UK, as well as her continuing her work to help provide education for Afghan girls.

    It was very inspiring and it was a very interesting day. Seeing the practitioners do the workshops was nice and will be helpful for my SIP. It was also nice to see the children engage so well with the prompt.

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    The International competition is closing today. So I have been very focused on data entry and responding to questions that the participants have been emailing. We are at over 2,000 entries and they are coming in quickly, but I should be able to get the entries processed within time.

  • Progress on Getting Everything Ready

    We have confirmed with the venue our dates for setting up the space and our private view.

    I have applied to multiple grants and I am just waiting for them to review my application.

    We meet the practitioners, we will be having a call with them soon to fully confirm the workshop schedules and to look at and help them with the content.

    We are doing well with getting things done early, so that we have less stress closer towards the date.

  • Bridge of Sunflowers Exhibition

    Yesterday we went up to Manchester for the reception of the Bridge of Sunflowers Exhibition.

    This exhibition displays works made by Ukrainian children about the war and how it is making them feel/ how it is affecting them. It was really moving to see all these pieces about how the war was affecting them and their families, especially with the descriptions and background information about some of the artists specific situation.

    We helped set up the extra pieces for the reception and took some photos for NSI’s socials. The reception was nice, the Lord Mayor of Manchester was there, some of the local school children that took part in the workshops read their poetry out loud. Overall it was a very nice event!

    This is my personal favourite piece from the exhibition. The description attached to the piece:

    ‘Karolina from Lviv.

    The Mum of the hare family is comforting the little babies during an arial attack of the invading russian army on the ruins of a settlement.’

  • Skeleton Map

    Skeleton Map Key PointsDownload

  • It’s been awhile…

    Last week I worked on new grant information for the organisation, wrote up some application letters, and handed the information off to my boss.

    I was also given the opportunity to curate for another exhibition. For works that will be displayed during the BISA conference. This is work I’ll be starting next week as the conference is in June and I am currently quite busy.

    On Thursday I will be going up to Manchester with work for the reception of the exhibition Bridge of Sunflowers. This exhibition is composed of artwork by young Ukrainian artists from the city of Lviv. The works explore the impacts of the ongoing conflict, as well as the hopes and dreams of those living through it.

    Yesterday I brought in my finished model of the modular exhibition structure I designed, and Katie liked it a lot. Soooooooo, they’re going ahead with getting it built!! It’s going to be so cool to see something I designed actually being made and used, also it will look very nice in my portfolio. YAY

    I also signed up for a mentorship program with James Frost a creative director, this is something I’ve been interested in recently as I want to learn more about creative direction and give it a go myself. It’s been very informative and I’ve been able to learn about industry practice and what it takes to collaborate with brands. Essentially the correct way to reach out to brands and present your ideas to them.

  • Pecha Kucha Slides

    Dagyum Chung & Ama Niang Pecha KuchaDownload